Lionheart
by Lore55
Summary: She had a lion in her heart, a fire in her soul, and beastly tempered prince to watch out for. Shizi had her work cut out for her, but such is the life of a (formerly) royal bodyguard.
1. The Southern Water Tribe

Chapter 1: _South_

 _She had a lion in her heart, a fire in her soul, and beastly tempered prince to watch out for. Shizi had her work cut out for her, but such is the life of a (formerly) royal bodyguard._

 **I ended up changing her name about five different times before I finally gave up. I swear. I went through Kaida, Azami, Kiwa, Shizi, and Ying before I finally got to Sang. Then my friend reminded me that** _ **Song**_ **is already a character so I went back to Shizi. Yeah.**

 **Please send help.**

 **Cursing ahead.**

* * *

It was fucking freezing.

Even under three different layers of clothes Shizi was pretty sure she was starting to turn blue from it. She couldn't even put on thicker clothes, unless she wanted to walk around like a giant marshmallow instead of an elite warrior.

When the thermometer she was glaring at dropped another few degrees, she seriously considered it.

Prince Zuko, at least, had the freedom not to wear armor unless he wanted to. He got to flounce around in a thick cloak that almost touched the floor of the ship, warm as the penguin seals they puffed on by.

The rest of them were stuck wandering around in in armor made for sea and infantry. They hadn't been told they were going to be going to the _South Pole_ when they had set out. The whole crew was ill equipped. The only thing they had going for them was that the vast majority was firebenders, and firebenders could warm themselves.

That didn't mean that Shizi liked the cold any. She would have much rather been back in her home country, basking in the glow of the sun. Running through the peaks of rocky mountains formed so long ago by volcanoes. Laying on the beach with the sand in her fingers and the wind combing her hair…

Her musings were broken apart when a light that a definitely not a part of the southern sky cast her shadow away from her. Shizi lifted her grey eyes up, up, up to the heavens and the beacon of light blaring up in a perfect stream that emanated from the glaciers below it.

Oh.

That was… unusual. She had heard that lighting got strange in the poles but this was certainly not the dancing rainbows her Master had described in his tales of travel and wonder. He hadn't mentioned beams of light or the threat of frost bite, and she knew he had been to the south pole. She had seen the pelts he hung on his walls, and the whale tooth scimitar that he displayed alongside them.

If she got the chance, Shizi planned on having one of her own before this trip was done.

Their course changed, the ship lifting up under her feet and the waves crashed against the side. Ice cracked under the pressure of the metal, splitting neatly before them. Shizi made her way to prow, just in time to be blasted by a wave of frigid air.

"What was that?" She asked dropping to her knees at the side of the former general. Iroh passed her a cup of tea and she breathed a bit easier when the warmth of the tea seeped into her frigid fingers. Is was jasmine, the scent reaching her and filling her with a calm that escaped her prince.

"According to my nephew, that is the Avatar," he said. Shizi looked around his shoulder to see the young man go storming across the deck to yell at the helmsmen. Again.

"Do you believe that it is?" she asked. Iroh turned his kind eyes on her. He was always like that. Nicer than he needed to be and full of caring and wisdom that he would share if only you sighed deeply enough within his earshot. Most of his advice involved tea.

Not that Shizi was going to complain. He made excellent tea. He had for all the years she had known him.

"I believe that Prince Zuko has found something to aim himself towards," came the neutral reply. Shizi hummed softly and took a drink, until her prince went for the door. She stood and moved to follow him. She was, technically, supposed to stay no less than three paces and no more than five away from him at any given time, but on the ship, in the middle of the north, she had relaxed. The men had proven themselves loyal, if long suffering.

The trip was a voluntary one, after all. She and all the other crew members were there of their own volition, and had been for the past two and half years. Not that she would have been anywhere else. Zuko was her prince, hers to guard and protect from all threats. He had been for years.

Shizi trotted after him when his pace increased, ducking around Lee the Cook, who was talking to Lee the Engineer, about his cousin Lee the Physician. So many Lee's. There were a million Lee's.

"I've found him," Zuko said it outloud but Shizi wasn't sure he was talking to her. He didn't really talk _to_ people these days. He talked _at_ them a lot.

"I saw," Shizi fell in, three paces behind him. "We won't reach that point for some time though, my prince," she said carefully. "At least a day. You might use that time to rest, my prince."

Zuko frowned. "I don't need rest. I need to capture the Avatar."

Which was what he'd said for the last two years. Straight. Shizi had grown tired, and then resigned, to it sometime between month five and year two.

"You'll catch him easier if you're not tired when we arrive," she insisted. She could only press so much before her prince balked and got stubborn. Again.

"I'll be fine," he dismissed, and stormed into his room. Shizi was left staring at the metal, a deep sigh sliding out of her mouth. She hoped that they found the Avatar soon, for her own sake. If they didn't, she might end up strangling whoever looked the most like her prince when she finally snapped.

With her thoughts now sliding to murder, and from there combat, she stepped into the door directly to the right of that of her prince. Her room was smaller than his, and not as decorated. There was still a corner full of candles and a desk, and the Fire Nation banner that hung from the wall, but that was requirement. Every other spare space was taken up by weaponry.

Swords, daggers, polearms, cables, bows, throwing disks, the list went on and on. There was even an antique staff from the Western Air Temple, tucked neatly into the corner.

None of these were what she was looking for though. She stepped up to the chest at the foot of her cot. It had come with the ship, an old , refurbished piece of shit from the beginning of the war. It was all that they had been allotted for this godforsaken journey. Even the allowance they had been given was barely enough to feed the whole crew. On more than one occasion had the crewmen had to dip into their own pay to restock.

It was an impossible mission and they all knew it.

Except now it was starting to look a little less impossible.

Shzi reached into her trunk, pulling out a small leather pouch. She let it swing before her eyes, counting to seven, before she dropped it again into the chest and reached for another pouch. The first was red, the second, black. That one she let swing four times before she dropped it and shut the lid. Seven for her and for her prince, four for their quarry and herself.

While Zuko may not rest before their battle, she needed to. Needed to. But she couldn't. She had sworn a vow on her name, her blood, her life, that she would protect him. She had failed once already.

She would not do it twice.

* * *

"It's so small," Shizi wondered aloud. Wei, who stood next to her on the helm, grunted his agreement. Wei had never been big on words. Perhaps because an earthbender that crushed his trachea years earlier and stolen his voice with a flurry of ripped vocal cords.

Or maybe he just didn't like speaking. Who could really say?

"Do you think there are any waterbenders in there?" she wondered. Wei gave her a flat look, accompanied by an arched brow. Shizi dropped her head. "Right, yeah. We got rid of them. Too bad, could have been a fun fight."

Wei let out a long breath, tipping his head just so.

Shizi smiled sweetly. "Oh come on. You don't think I can cut through some water?"

Wei put his hand on the side of her helmet and shoved. Shizi stumbled with a laugh and spun away to stand to her prince's right rather than his left, where Wei stayed. Iroh was staying on board with his tea and his solitaire.

She put her faceplate up, a hated addition that made it all the harder to see. If nothing else, her helmet had long drapes along the outside that would help her stay warmer. Most of her companions had helmets that ended below their chins. Even her prince.

Shizi let her breath fan out through the three slits of her helmet. She hated it so much.

The ship shook when the landing bridge fell forwards, smashing straight through the miniscule wall that surrounded the tiny village. The girl pitied the children that screamed inside.

And, the sole boy of fighting age that came towards them with a strange weapon raised above his head, screaming.

Zuko didn't look at her as he spoke.

"If you protect me from that, I'll be offended."

"If I don't protect you, I'll be doing a poor job," she retorted. Nonetheless she stayed back while her prince kicked the odd weapon out of his hand, and in the same motion cracked the boy across the head until he went tumbling into the snow drift below them.

While he was struggling, face buried in the snow, the small landing part of her, Wei, and her prince, moved towards the other inhabitants. Women and children only. The boy now trying to rip himself out if the snow was the only semblance of a 'man' in the village.

Shizi wondered why. She knew, she was sure, they were fighting a war. But why weren't there any left? Based on the side of the village there was one woman for each hut, probably more. So, why weren't any of them off fighting? Unless they couldn't. None of them were stepping up to defend themselves from her or her companions. So, she figured, they must be poor fighters. If they could fight at all.

How foolish.

A scream from behind alerted Shizi to the arrival of the boy, who was sprinting at them with that same weapon raised. Was he stupid?

She stepped up, caught his wrist, and threw him casually across her hip. He tipped ass over ears before managing to land on his knees, crouched. The face paint that had been on his face had all but smeared off, leaving only a border of black and white. He was even younger than she'd first thought. Younger and her, younger than her prince. He pitched something shaped like an elbow at her prince, who dodged away from it. Shizi glowered.

A little boy threw a spear at him and he tried to charge again, trailed by shouted of 'show no fear!'.

"What a stupid boy," she mumbled. Zuko snorted and crossed his arms while she stepped in front of him and caught the boy by his spear. With a neat twist she had it out of his hands. It wasn't bad. Probably more use for hunting than actual combat…

She ducked a wild swing he took at her head and smashed her elbow into his stomach. He was forced to bend double and she wrapped her arm around his neck, pulling him up. Her other hand pushed against the side of his head and with one jerk she had twisted his neck _just_ so.

He hit the ground limply. Women started screaming.

Shizi rolled her eyes. Honestly, if they were so worried, they should be attacking her.

Her prince's shout from behind had her spinning around, just in time to catch the elbow thing in her hand. It had hit Zuko in the back of his head. He had been _hit_. Shizi felt sick.

She caught sight of something else moving towards him and moved, pushing her prince backwards and hopping up, over the-

Penguin?

She turned in the air to land on her feet, staring blankly at the boy that had come in riding it. He was dressed in yellows and oranges, with an arrow pointing down towards his nose from across his bald head.

She knew those clothes. They had found them years earlier, when they had been looking at the temples. The air temples.

Shizi stepped closer to her prince. She twirled the spear in front of her, catching it in an experts grip. She worked with polearms all the time. This was just another one.

Wei and another group that had followed them spread out, surrounding him on all three sides. When he swung his staff outwards Shizi braced herself for it, closed her eyes against the onslaught of rapidly moving snow.

She only listened to him with half an ear. She was looking now, for other people, for more ambushes. They had taken away the Southern waterbenders, they had beaten the only 'warrior' in the south.

And, with a vow from her prince, they had captured the Avatar.

Huh.

She looked over at Wei, who was brushing snow off of his shoulder. He caught her looking and shrugged. That was easy.

Too easy.

* * *

Shizi shivered violently as Wei finally finished thawing her out of the ice. She was cold, cold, cold. She hated it. She hated this whole stupid trip, this grand adventure, this quest of her prince's.

She wanted to go home, back to her home, to the courtyards of her master and her room inside his home. She wanted to return to the warmth of the Fire Nation, to their smitheries and industries. To the sun.

She wanted to back to when her prince was fourteen, when he was young and bright and optimistic. When he would have been one of the first to help fire his people of icy prisons. To help _Shizi_ out of her prison.

"Thank you," she mumbled once she was free. Wei nodded to her and stepped back, giving her room to stretch her arms around. She could barely feel her fingers. Her skin burned where she could feel anything.

It was enough to make her eyes sting behind her mask.

"Did you see where Prince Zuko went?" she asked once she could make a fist without crying. Who knew ice could hurt so much?

Wei pointed to the tower that sat on top of the ship. His room, then.

"Thank you," she said again, dipped her head to him. She was soaking wet now, and still shaking badly. Still, she had a job to do. She needed to make sure he was secure before she could get in something drying. Warmer.

Less likely to end up in hypothermia.

She slipped into the hallway and pulled her helmet off, letting her wet hair clung to her skin, making it itch. She brushed as much away as she could without ripping it out before she pushed the door to her Prince's room open. She had to duck immediately when a fireball shot at her head. Her hair sizzled.

"Leave," he roared at her.

Shizi bared her teeth and stood up again. "Of course," she snipped, and spun away just as fast as she had come in. Anger bubbled inside of her and some of water steamed off of her armor. She heard her prince groan loudly before she slammed the door behind her.

She prayed they found a port soon, before someone got killed.


	2. The Challenger

**Guest: Thanks!**

 **openbookworm: Eeeeyup. I have a lot of OCs.**

 **Wicked Neko: All questions shall be answered!**

* * *

Zhao was one person Shizi could go her entire life without ever speaking to again. She really, truly hated him, and his massive sideburns. The only thing bigger than those was his ego.

She mumbled such to her prince in passing, while she was bowing beside him in greeting to the Commander. She hid a smile while he stifled a laugh between coughs. Zhao looked between them, suspicion furrowing his brows.

"So good to see you," Shizi lied through her teeth, her smile plastered on firmly. She stood exactly three steps from her prince. Like hell she was letting any further space between them with Zhao, so full of contempt and unbridled greed, right there. Not when they were surrounded by potential enemies.

Enemies. When had she begun thinking of crown soldiers as enemies? As threats to her prince?

Sometime between the day the Fire Lord crippled his son and their third week on the ship, when she had caught a message leaving to the Crown Princess to report their rate of failure. Suspicion had started to garner and if she didn't feel the same on occasion she might have thought each and every crewmen who mumbled light curses of Zuko was the same as him.

It wasn't as if she didn't share some of their complaints on those long nights when she sat in the boiler room, trading cards and jibes and bits of value. A few days of chores, a few coins, they were all the same as far as the crew of a long-at-sea ship was concerned.

It was true that her prince was rough and loud and foul tempered. It was true that his orders were sometimes irrational and this trip was(Used to be) just a fool's errand. It was true that the ship was shit, the crew was bored, and rations didn't always stay the level that was safe.

Complaints didn't make for treason.

"What brings the Fire Lords own brother, and his son, to my harbor?" Zhao asked.

Iroh gestured behind them without taking his hands out of his sleeves. "Our ship is being repaired," he explained. The vessel, tiny compared to those to either side, was beaten badly.

"My, that's quite a lot of damage. What happened?" the new Commander looked over their shoulders.

"Yes," Zuko agreed, his face twisting. "You wouldn't believe what happened." He didn't want Zhao knowing about the Avatar, but there was a fact that Zuko often forgot.

He was an atrocious liar.

"Uncle," he slid the conversation clumsily into an equally bad liar, "Tell him what happened."

"Ah, but Shizi recalls it much more clearly than I do," he turned it over to her and Shizi grimaced under her faceplate. Talk about traitors.

"Everyone on the ship got smashed," she said flatly, "they thought we were chasing the Avatar into the Southern Lights but we hit an iceberg. You should hear the guys talk about it."

Iroh looked a little disappointed. "Yes, that's right. That why she's the only one who recalls it! Shizi was the only one who didn't partake in the drinking. Besides, my nephew, of course."

He wouldn't be allowed alcohol for another three years. Nor would she, but no one cared about peasants.

"Half of the men will still swear up and down we were ambushed by the Avatar," she added for good measure. She realized, no one had told the crew not to tell Zhao about the Avatar, and it wouldn't occur to them not to spread the word. Zhao was supposed to be on their side, after all. Why would they hide information from him?

Fuck.

"Is that so?" Zhao narrowed his eyes and Shizi worried that he saw through them.

"Yes, it is," Zuko said clumsily. Shizi idly wondered what their country had with 'z's. Zhao. Zuko. AZula. OZai. SoZin. ShiZi.

She also wondered why no one had ever taught her prince any tact. Wasn't all politics about _lying_? She barely counted as noble and she knew that. She could lie through her teeth and catch truth under her tongue.

Swords weren't the only weapons and person needed to know how to use, after all.

"Well, you must regale me with all the antics of your crew," Zhao leaned in, too close for someone addressing their prince. Shizi tensed. "Join me for a drink?"

She couldn't see it, but she knew the tone that entered her prince's voice when his eyes narrowed.

"I can't. We're leaving," he tried to turn, a valiant effort if ever Shizi saw one, but Iroh caught his arm and the girl wanted to scream.

"Prince Zuko," he scolded, "Show Commander Zhao your respect." To the newly appointed officer he bowed, enough to be respectful without showing Zhao that he was considering him equal. "We would be honored to join you. Wouldn't we, nephew, Shizi?"

"Of course," She said automatically. Her bow was significantly lower. She may have been a member of the Royal Procession, but Zhao was an Commander and this was his port. Extra care had to be taken when that was accounted for.

"I didn't think you would be joining us, Royal Guard." The words were a title, as good as any rank, and it should have been a complement to hear them. But from Zhao it sounded like a mockery.

Shizi lifted herself, her chin went high. Defiant.

"Where the prince goes, so do I," she said firmly.

Zhao gave her a look that made her skin crawl. "Of course. What _was_ I thinking?"

Iroh cut in smoothly with, "Do you have any ginseng tea? It's my favorite."

Shizi glanced at her shaking prince, weary of the fire that licked around his fingers. He didn't lash out, he just growled and kicked at the ground before storming after his uncle. Shizi was reminded of a child.

Not that he wasn't. Zuko was barely 16, Shizi had only recently passed 17. They were both young. Teenagers, if not children. He had grown, he had been scarred, marked, and forced to survive but at his core he was still a prince, one who had never had to work for his food, who had never known a life outside protection from outside forces.

His greatest enemy his entire life had been his own sister, and while sad it did not make for maturity or a calm heart. It left him with no need of self control outside of palace walls and little respect for people beneath him.

He was still a child, in many ways. A tall, anger filled child.

A child that had had to grow too fast and hadn't grown enough.

Shizi followed him, three steps behind.

* * *

Her hands were clenched into tight fists. Shizi stepped up, her eyes flashing as she put herself at her prince's elbow.

"You should watch your tone, Commander," her voice dripped venom. How dare he demand anything of their prince? How dare he accuse Zuko of any measure of treason?

Never mind that all three of them were technically committing it. Her most of all. She was the one who wove the lie, who embroidered embellishment upon the tale. Really, she was in the most danger of them. The other two were royalty. A Crown Prince and a renown General, brother to the Fire Lord.

She wasn't even real nobility.

"Shizi."

The command wasn't sharp. In fact it was totally calm, which was the strangest thing of all. The girl looked down at her prince before she bowed her head and took two steps back.

"It's like you said, the Avatar probably died a long time ago. We haven't found him, outside of drunken skirmishes," Zuko looked right at Zhao and Shizi was inexplicably proud of how straight faced he was. How calm, how in control.

Her heart settled.

 _This_ was her prince, her future Fire Lord. This was the boy she had followed on a impossible mission. This was the boy she would take any pain, any humiliation, sacrifice anything for, if it meant keeping him safe. This was boy who had stood up in the Fire Lord's war room and spoke against cruelty against his people.

This was her pride.

Shizi smiled under her mask and followed after him.

"Commander!" A man ducked into the tent, towards Zhao. "We interrogated the crew-"

Shizi didn't let him get another word out.

"How dare you?" her voice dropped, so low, so vicious, into such a growl that the soldier spun to her, his chin lifting, and even Zhao drew up.

"You interrogate the crew? You would doubt the word of the Prince of the Fire Nation, your prince, to your country, and go behind his back to get the answers that were so freely given? What kind of disrespect-"

"I disrespect no one worthy of respect," Zhao snapped, "All I see here, is a banished prince and his simpering guard, not worth my time or the courtesy I already paid."

"When he is Fire Lord-"

"He will never be Fire Lord," Zhao cut in, and Shizi was prepared to rip him apart for his third interruption. "His sister will be crowned and he will be what he always is, an unwanted prince. His own father doesn't want him, the proof is on his fa-"

"His father will welcome him home when he finds the Avatar that _your_ navy has failed to find in a hundred years! And you will show him respect, or I will make you."

She didn't know where her fury came from. Zhao, she was willing to bet. Her prince and the months of pent up frustration, she would wager.

"Is that a challenge?" Zhao narrowed his eyes at the girl and she stood straight under his eyes.

"If you think you can make it," her voice was vicious.

His mouth carved a thin line across his face. "An Agni Kai, at sunset," he stated.

Shizi was caught. She had issued the challenge, she couldn't back down, but an Agni Kai…

"Very well." She heard herself say.

* * *

"I can't believe you're doing this."

Zuko stared down at her, at Iroh's side. Shizi had one fist on the ground, her armor and weapons traded for traditional Agni Kai clothes. Zhao wore the same as she, without the red band around his chest.

"This was a mistake," Iroh intoned.

"I know," Shizi promised. Her head was bowed, her hair locked in a hair piece. "I couldn't let him talk that way about Prince Zuko."

"Trying to protect my honor won't do any good if you lose while fighting for it," her prince hissed, and she closed her eyes against the words. She was barely a firebender, and Zhao was a master. She knew they were right but it was too late. It had been too late as soon as the words of acceptance had left her mouth. Too late as soon as she issued any challenge, for what other one would Zhao put forth.

Her muscles tensed under the red metal band around her upper arm and Shizi stood. She looked at them, her gaze even.

"I will not loose," she swore, and that was that. She had no weapons, no armor. She felt naked. But that would not keep her from fighting. Not for her prince.

Shizi turned with Zhao to face him, letting the strange vest-poncho fall off of her shoulders so she could step forwards. Her price was at her back, watching. Waiting.

The girl walked forth, her shoulders back, her chin lifted.

She attacked first. It was weak, pathetic. Honestly, Shizi could barely heat tea, let alone bend her way out of a box. It was no surprise when Zhao blocked each of her strikes and started pouring his own fire onto her.

The fury that had clouded her judgement earlier melted off, falling from her shoulders. She did not get power or a hazy from fighting. Shizi gained clarity and focus, calm and understanding. Her eyes drank in his movements, perfect, and his fire, powerful, as she dodged with a series of maneuvers that were overtly complex. She was a weapons mistress, one that was collecting burns faster than she collected knives. She did not need firebending. Except for this one time.

This one, _cursed,_ time.

Her arms stung where they turned red, her cheek cried with a blister. She was pretty sure her hair was burning. Zhao was pushing literal waves of fire onto her and it was all she could do to side step, to jump, to duck. To catch it with her own bending and redirect it weakly, not even managing to protect her own hands.

Iroh and Zuko were shouting at her but she didn't hear. Her focus was entirely on Zhao.

How could she do this? How could she win an Agni Kai as an abysmal bender?

An abysmal bender…

" _Benders rely too much on their element. Take that away and what do they have? Fight a waterbender in the desert and they are powerless, fight a firebender on a glacier and they grow weak," Master Tamotsu said. He had her hand twisted wrong. The fire at her fingertips, already weak, had died. "Even the bad ones think that bending will get them by."_

" _I don't have anything else," Shizi snapped. She tried to get out of the hold but he grabbed her jaw and placed a thumb above her eye. Shizi froze at the subtle pressure he applied._

" _You barely have this," his voice was cold, but not cruel. Like steel settled against her skin. "You will never master firebending, little lion. But there are other strengths you might find. The body has weaknesses shared, bender or otherwise. The knees, the elbows, the eyes," he tapped her lid for emphasis and she flinched. "If you learn them, you won't need to bend at all to win."_

...but one hell of a fighter.

Shizi shoved herself forwards, launched herself into a wall of fire. She focused enough not to be roasted entirely before she was dropping, skidding underneath a kick Zhao aimed at her head.

It was perfect. He was only on one leg, and she had all her limbs. Shizi planted her hands and used momentum to smash Zhao's knee out, sending him crumpling to the ground.

She threw herself onto him, before he could raise more fire, and placed one hand on his throat. Just her fingertips, while she sat on his chest.

Her other arm was back, fire curling around her knuckles. It was most firebending she could do at all.

Her chest was heaving. Zhao stared up at her, horrified, before he closed his eyes and looked away. Resigned.

"Do it," he snapped.

Shizi almost did. She almost placed her hand across his eye and heated the skin until it bubbled and he screamed. She would teach him to mock her prince.

Then she looked up, saw that same prince staring at her through a scarred eye, and settled for clocking him in the jaw.

Zhao went limp and Shizi stood, triumphant.


	3. Island hopping

**I had totally forgotten how long its been since I've done this one, wow!**

 **The Literate Devil: I will! I'm keeping it in the dark intentionally ^^'**

 **Guest from December 18th: Thank you! I'm afraid I've been neglecting this one ^^'**

 **Wicked Neko: Honestly Fight scene's aren't my forte. I always end up 'drawing back' a little when I'm writing them, you know? And any mispselling I'm sorry for, but I have no beta. Zhao has no honor, he's a dick.**

 **Yaya: Thank you!**

 **Fellow: Thanks!**

* * *

Wei patted her burnt arm and Shizi winced, looking back at him. He was giving her a Look. The one that conveyed you-fire-damned-idiot, followed by a shrug she figured meant, why-do-I-deal-with-you.

"I still won," she muttered, "And besides, who care's about a few burns, we're on _Kyoshi island_!" A grin started growing across her face. She had left the helmet away for the time being, letting the sun warm her dark hair. Zuko was a few yards away, on his own Rhino. Shizi was re wrapping a bandage that had come loose under her arm guards before they reached their destination.

It was just the three of them, as a sort of advanced infantry. The others would be along, once they had gotten their butts in gear.

Wei cocked his head and Shizi went on, one of his hands on her hip while the other held her polearm for her. The others were only a few minutes behind. If not for her prince's impatience they would have all been together.

"The Kyoshi warriors are all female, non bending fighters. I can't wait to see what they can do," her eyes shone amber in the warmth of the sun. They were light, with a spot in one by the pupil.

Zuko snorted and Shizi bit her tongue. She wanted to say, 'don't let Ty Lee hear you do that', but Zuko hadn't liked to think of his sisters friends since his banishment. She wouldn't bring them up. She did need to send the little acrobat a new letter though, now that they were close enough for hawks to reach the mainland.

Shizi faced forwards again, looking out over the island in front of her, she could see where the grass had shrivelled and died, and where brush was bound to grow come winter. It really did have the potential to be beautiful. Or it would be in summer, she figured, it was still covered in snow for now. The rhino's didn't like that one bit.

Shizi didn't blame them at all. After their ordeal in the south pole she couldn't find it in her to like anything too cold.

She hated the cold.

The path opened down the hill, revealing a small village nestled between a set of hills. At one end was a large statue of a woman holding two fans, one per hand. Avatar Kyoshi, she figured.

She was the only Avatar that Shizi could see. In fact there were no people to be seen at. Not a man, not a woman, not a child. No Avatar stood save Kyoshi. .

"Come out, Avatar! You can't hide from me forever," her prince barked, his voice carrying easily across the main street. When no one came forth to offer themselves, her prince looked back at the party he'd brought along, the others catching up when they had come up to flank them.

"Find him," he ordered, and all but Shizi urged their mounts forwards. The Rhino's were commanded by non-benders, all armed with spears or lances. Behind them sat Firebenders, distinguished by their crested helmets.

Shizi and Wei watched them go. The girl looked around, her eyes narrowing. The village was not covered in ice, there were tracks in the snow that showed foot prints. The road to the village was clear and the statue was vibrantly painted.

"It's a trap," she realized, embarrassingly slow. Too late. A girl was sprinting towards her prince while another came at them from the the side, yellow fans open. They were painted like Kyoshi, green armor hiding them from easy view.

"Wei," she warned, but he was already throwing down cover fire. Shizi swept through it with her spear, but the wood broke, splintering under a blow from the woman.

Shizi grinned and shoved the reins into her companion's hands, surprising him enough the his fire cut off. It was fine by her, she was busy vaulting off of the Rhino, smashing a kick into the girl's shoulder, where the breastplate didn't cover.

The fan struck at her leg but all she had to do was lift it to block with her armored boot before kicking the warrior in the face.

She fell back, her nose as red as her lips and eyes.

A shout had Shizi spinning in time to see her prince kicked off of his Rhino and surrounded. She made for him but he beat her to it, spinning on his hands while fire erupted from his feet to send the Kyoshi Warriors flying. Shizi smiled her pride. A glance at Wei and he threw his hand at her, gesturing, and she took the hint.

Shizi ran for her prince, falling in beside him.

"Nice try Avatar," he shouted at the air, "But these little _girls_ can't protect you!"

Shizi cleared her throat pointedly and he looked at her and cringed a bit.

"Over here!"

Shizi looked back and there, indeed, was the Avatar.

"I find it odd that shouting lures out someone who's been hiding for a hundred years," she confessed, turning towards him.

Wei appeared on Zuko's other side. His arm was raised, but only the left one. The right was hanging limply at his side. Someone had dislocated it. Shizi winced her sympathy.

Shizi spun a spear off the ground and prepared herself.

She had never seen anyone who moved like the little bald boy. He was fast, he jumped high, and more than anything he never let a strike land, or landed one himself. Shizi circled him on one side, her prince on the other.

She waited for her cue, when Zuko threw forth a fire ball big enough to block the airbenders view of her. From under her armor she whipped out her Dragon Hook and flung it into the flames.

It wrapped around someone and she pulled, hard, expecting the little airbender to come crashing out towards her.

Instead, A pie came flying at her face. A pie.

She drew her sword and cut tried through it, sending halfs crashing over her shoulders. It hit the ground in bloody red smears and she spun her hook around again, up into the air, and this time it looped true around the Avatar's ankle.

She yanked, pulling his down to the ground at alarming speed.

For an instant she thought she had miscalculated and that he would break his neck. But the little shit threw somekind of air down at the ground and cushioned his fall so he only kicked up a little dirt when she reeled him towards her.

"Let go! Come on, I didn't do anything to you!" he fought, trying to free his leg, but the hooks had him.

"Doesn't matter," she said flatly, her voice muffled by the helmet, "We need you to come with us."

"Why?" he asked. She could see his eyes darting around. Looking for escape.

"Fire Lord Ozai wants a word with you," she replied steadily. She reached to grab his wrists, and jerked back when a jet of water shot in front of her face. The little Southern girl was back.

The one instant of distraction was all it took for the Avatar to slip out of her hooks and run off.

Her prince screamed in frustration. She could sympathize.

Fuck the Avatar.

* * *

"D'you think we'll ever actually catch him?" she asked Wei later that night. He had more experience that she did, and he was more realistic than her prince. Her prince, who she had to keep her voice down to avoid drawing the attention of.

Wei merely lifted his shoulder. Shizi sighed.

"I want to go home," she said softly. Back to the palace on the main island, back to her master and his teachings. Back to following her prince around the halls painted red and black.

She did not wish for Yase island and her Father and Grandmother and Saya. She wanted nothing to do with the big red house by the sea and the water gardens within. She had no desire to take a boat north into port and descend into the forsaken house of her childhood.

They were not her home, they were not her place.

Her place was at her prince's side, his shadow, his protectorate.

That was where she was meant to be.

A hand fell on her shoulder and she looked at Wei, who offered her a rare, soft smile. Shizi couldn't feel the warmth of his palm through the had metal of her armor, but she appreciated the gesture, even leaning into it. Wei was a nice fellow. He always had been, ever since they first started this damnable expedition.

Back when it was just a dreaming prince and a group of people bound to follow him.

She wasn't always sure why most of them stayed. No where better to go, perhaps? None of them were quite like her in their loyalties. Not as vicious and hard of heart.

A horn blasted somewhere in the distance. A Fire Nation outpost had spotted them. Good. They were running low on suplies. Zhao hadn't been able to 'spare' much of anything to them.

How Shizi hated the man.

She patted Wei's arm and pulled away, moving to Zuko's side. He was almost always the first on the ground, which made her the second. Iroh stood up from where he'd been beating Li, badly, racking his winnings into a bag.

Shizi had her own meager pay tucked away safely at her hip, under the hilt of her sword. No one would be stupid enough to go for it so close to where she could cut their whole arm off.

Within minutes they had docked and were walking down into a portside down with Fire Nation banners hanging down around them.

Shizi stayed behind Zuko as they walked up to the portmaster, marked by his uniform for all to see. Not that she had any room to talk. The Royal Procession mask was still fixed firmly on her face plate.

"We need-" Zuko began, only to be cut off by the older man.

"We have nothing to spare."

Shizi stared at him. Nothing? The port was thriving. She could see it from where she was. Fool, by the handful or by the barrel was all around them. Fruits, vegitables, meats. Dryed rice was stacked up in massive bags not a hundred feet from them. Nothing to spare?

"I am the prince!" Zuko reared. He had analysed the same as her, probably.

"And we have nothing to spare for the prince who let the Avatar escape," the portmaster said evenly.

"I didn't let him do anything," Zuko took a threatening step towards the man and Shizi's hand fell to the hilt of her sword. Ready for a fight.

Iroh stepped between them all smoothly.

"Now, now, nephew. I'm sure we can come to an agreement here somehow," he soothed. To the portmaster he said, "We have the money to buy whatever we need. Your people will be fairly compensated."

"Money is not our concern," he said firmly. "We have nothing to spare to you, or your nephew. Good day." He turned away from them.

Shizi was left staring at his back. She looked around, at more than just the goods this time. She looked at the people, and those that had come off the ship with them. All of them were being turned away from the stalls and stands, their money shoved back in their hands.

If they could afford to turn away good business then this place could absolutely afford to supply the prince and his crew whatever they might ask for the voyage ahead of them. They were just being greedy and cruel.

"We need those supplies!" Zuko snarled and tried to lunge at the man, but Iroh held him at bay. Shizi was reminded again that her prince wasn't one for politics. Here was why.

"That isn't my concern," the portmaster repeated. "Good day."

He turned and walked away, leaving the trio standing in the street. This was bad.

This was very, very, bad.


End file.
